Mage talents
Starting at level 10, a mage can begin spending talent points in order to gain and improve abilities. Mage talents underwent a significant review for patch 1.11, with additional modifications in 2.0.1. Below, each talent has a quoted description of the talent, which was taken from the game. The differences between the various levels of each talent are quoted in brackets. For example, "Reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by {2/4/6/8/10}%" to describe the 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 point variations of the talent. Prerequisites are listed for all talents that have them. All tier N''' talents require that you spend '''5(N-1) talent points in their tree as a prerequisite. For example, to get a Tier 2 Arcane talent, you must first have spent at least 5 points on other Arcane talents, Tier 3 requires 10 points, etc. See also: * Mage Talents calculator at the Official Site * Mage Talent Calculator at WorldofWar.se * Mage Talent Calculator at Wowhead * Mage Talent Calculator at merciless-gilde.com * Mage Theorycraft at WoWWiki, for numerical help choosing a talent specialization. Arcane Fire Improved Fireball -- I don't find this talent to be worthwhile. The reduction in casting time isn't high enough to warrant using this, as you'll still have a significant casting time if you max it out. Spend your points on Impact instead. Edit - I disagree with the above comment. At max level Fireball is a 3.5 second cast untalented and 3 second cast talented. If you are casting several fireballs in a row (which you will often be doing as a Pyromage), the .5 second reduction in cast time is almost equivalent to a 15% increase in damage. With five points here...you can cast 7 fireballs for every 6 fireballs an untalented mage will cast. Well worth it IMHO. Impact -- As a fire mage, you're best bet at staying alive is to kill things before they get in your face. Since this definitely helps you accomplish that goal, max this out. Ignite -- This can work out to a rather large DPS bonus, especially when combined with Combustion. It's a must-have. Flame Throwing -- Another must-have, as it helps keeps mobs at a distance. Improved Fire Blast -- In the same vein as Improved Fire Ball, I don't see the cooldown reduction as being significant enough to warrant using this. Incineration -- Anything that ups your DPS is a good thing, and combined with Ignite, Incineration can work wonders for you. Improved Flamestrike -- I'm not a fan of Flamestrike in the first place, as it has limited use even in Raids, so I'm not inclined to improve it. Pyroblast -- This skill is a great combat opener, providing large burst damage and a DOT to boot. If you have Ignite, that additional damage stacks on top of the DOT for this spell. It's also a great skill if you're planning a 3-Minute-Mage build, too. Really, if you're this far down the tree, you should spend a point here. Burning Soul -- I find this skill to be very useful especially against other ranged attackers. You can't kill anything if you can't get a spell fired off, so this is a must-have, in my opinion. The threat reduction is fairly minimal, quite frankly, as a Pyromancer really racks up the threat quickly in raids if you're not careful. Improved Scorch -- Whether or not you take this depends on what you're building. Scorch can be very useful for PVP, so if you're going that route, you'll probably want this talent. Personally, if you're going the fire route, doing small amounts of damage in little bursts seems contrary to the point. Take this talent only if you plan on using Scorch a lot. Improved Fire Ward -- There are better talents available. Fire Ward is so situational in the first place that buffing it seems like a poor use of talent points. Note: This talent was changed to Molten Shields, which now also gives your Molten Armor spell a 50/100% chance to affect ranged and spell attacks against you, making this talent much more useful once you have Molten Armor. Master of Elements -- I happen to like this talent, as one of the biggest problems you'll have as a Pyromancer is mana-efficiency. Especially once you have Combustion, this talent will pay off for you big time. Playing with Fire -- A DPS-booster with a drawback. Typically, I put 1 point in here to get to the next tier (having put 3 in Critical Mass and 1 in Combustion). There are better DPS-boosters in this tree, however, so I'd avoid putting more than 1 in here. Critical Mass -- DPS-boost without any catches. It's a no-brainer to max this baby. Blast Wave -- Even though the Daze effect has limited value, this gives you another instant-cast spell at your disposal. Handy in case of emergencies, and for that alone, it's worth the 1 point. Be careful using this in raids, however, as you'll attract threat like no tomorrow. Blazing Speed -- Blazing speed is amazing in pvp. If you're trying a hybrid or deep fire build in pvp, blazing speed is a must have. Fire Power -- DPS-boost without any catches. It's a no-brainer to max this. Pyromaniac -- DPS-boost without any catches AND better mana-efficiency? Giddy-up! Combustion -- Basically, you're guaranteeing yourself three crits within 10 spells every three minutes. Must have. Molten Fury -- I usually toss one point in here to get to the next tier, but if you're doing heavy raiding, this can be very helpful against bosses. Empowered Fireball -- To me, this comes down to a choice between which spell you're going to use more - Scorch or Fireball. Do you like heavy burst damage or quick casting time? If you prefer the burst, max this spell. If you're going to be using Scorch, you're better off maxing Imp. Scorch. Dragon's Breath -- A bit lackluster for a 41 point talent as its uses are very situation, but it works great as an interupt or a slow and packs a nice punch. Frost Notable talents * Improved Arcane Missiles is useful at lower levels, providing an uninterruptible high DPS spell you can use in melee range. * Arcane Concentration gives you a chance to enter a Clearcasting state, improving your mana efficiency by about 10%. When you proc Clearcasting, take the opportunity to cast a mana expensive spell. * Pyroblast is the highest single target damage spell available, but is limited by its long casting time. * Ice Shards, Frostbite and Shatter are the holy trinity of Shatter/critical hit Frost mage build, giving you a 50% bonus to crit a frozen target. They can now all be maxed with only 20 points in Frost. Also, Shatter now affects all your spells, not just Frost spells, giving additional flexibility to Shatter builds. * Ice Block is a very situational ability with a number of uses. As of patch 2.3.2 Ice Block is trainable to any mage at the level of 30. See main article for details: Ice Block. * The tier 7 Frost talent Ice Barrier is potentially much more efficient than Mana Shield. In Patch 1.11 its cooldown was reduced to 30 seconds, making it much more useful. Its functionality and mana efficiency are similar to a self-cast version of a priest's Power Word: Shield. * Formerly a Talent, Evocation is now available to all mages at level 20. Category:Mage Talents